Reconciliation
by Nyphetamine
Summary: Kagome has just lost her husband InuYasha to war. His brother Sesshoumaru has come to check up on her, and ends up finding his own closure through hers. SessXKag Oneshot.


**Reconciliation**

Kagome laid the keys on the table gently and walked to her couch, plopping down hard onto the surface and sighing along with the cushions as she leaned back. She let her head fall back and stared at the ceiling before closing her eyes tightly.

_Just escape reality for one moment. _

She ignored the image that continuously knocked on her brain of a tall, black haired man in uniform and welcomed images of children running around, happy.

Then her body shook as she fell forward, gripping her calves in agony. She screamed as loud as she could and sobbed until her whole body fell to the floor, writhing in sadness.

The images of that handsome man flooded into her mind's vision and paraded around, taunting her with what she had lost.

Playing in her mind were home videos of the man as he put on his hat and gave her one more deep and passionate kiss before boarding the ship that would take him overseas to fight in war. She waved goodbye to him, shouting her love across seas of people, not even noticing their existence.

Then her mind fast forwarded to the horrible day two weeks ago. Two men in uniform approached her door with melancholy faces. She answered the door with a smile, having just received a letter from her beloved husband earlier that day. They handed her a letter and apologized, saying that he had died honorably and would receive a posthumous Purple Heart.

Kagome slammed her fist against her floor. "I don't care what he gets! He's dead!" She started to gag on her tears and slowly allowed herself to hiccup to a stop. She lifted her red, swollen eyes to look at his picture hanging on her wall and she stood.

Reaching her arms out and flexing her thin fingers, she pulled the picture from its nail and held it to her chest, heaving back sobs, pointlessly hoping he would walk out of the frame and hold her so that her tears could flow freely and end forever in his arms.

She fell into the couch and watched, calming down, as left over teardrops landed on his smiling face. The only thing that seemed to be keeping her from him at that moment was the thin layer of glass. But in reality, there was an entire sky between them.

A knock on the door alerted Kagome, causing her to quickly drop the picture beside her as she stood slowly, wiping at her red eyes.

She dragged her feet to the door and turned the knob, keeping her eyes focused on the ground as she opened it so that the person wouldn't be able to see her nearly destroyed eyes.

"Yes?" She kept her eyes down.

"Kagome Higurashi? I am InuYasha's brother, Sesshoumaru. My family sent me to check on you, saying that you were probably upset."

Kagome looked up and gasped slightly. In front of her was the man she had met once at her wedding, looking exactly like her dead husband.

"Thank you, but that's not needed." Kagome started to shut the door, but his hand gripped it, pushing it back open.

"I am not the type of guy to care, but you need help. Is there anything I can do?" He looked almost annoyed. He was probably forced to cheer her up.

"Nothing, I promise. Your family can go on with their lives; none of you have an obligation to me." She forced a smile and shut the door, this time meeting no resistance.

She turned and leaned against the door. She was being foolish. A part of her had hoped that the man would have forced the door open again. She wanted him to march in there and say the joke was over. She wanted him to announce that he was actually InuYasha, home early from deployment, simply pretending to be dead.

She turned to open the door and looked across her porch. The man had left. She closed the door softly and walked back to the picture on her couch.

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Hahahaha! You are… sooooo… fun-neh!" Kagome fell into the lap of the man sitting next to her. Her face was red from the amount of alcohol she had consumed, and her eyes were glassy with ignorance.

"Yeah, I know I am." The man grinned and picked her head up from his lap and looked into her eyes. "Let's do that somewhere alone." She laughed at him, not comprehending the situation.

He grasped her hands and pulled her from her chair, throwing money down on the bar for the bar tender. He pulled her out, laughing in agitation as she continuously told him how funny he was.

As he walked towards his apartment, he nodded at passing people as if to confirm that what he was doing was a good thing. When he passed by one man, he noted that the man followed him with his eyes instead of nodding back. For a minute, the mans heart skipped a beat. Had he just passed someone who knew the woman? She had previously mentioned a man with black hair, but he wasn't sure if that was the man or not.

He shrugged the feeling off and continued to escort her to his apartment. She was so out of it, that asking for permission was probably a waste of time. But to be smart, he would ask her, knowing she would never say no.

When he arrived to his room, he quickly opened the door and pulled her inside.

"Now, darling, I'd like to show you a good time. Would you mind that at all?" He gave her a sly grin, and slid his hands around her waist, leading her to his bed slowly.

"Hahahaha whatever!" She fell backwards and looked up at him from the bed. He laughed with her and removed his shirt and shoes. His hands made their way to her blouse, and he quickly unbuttoned it, revealing her bare stomach and her covered chest. He threw her blouse to the ground and lifted her, unfastening the hooks on her bra.

"What are you doing? It tickles!" She giggled and hit him in the chest lightly.

He threw the bra to the ground and stared at her breasts hungrily. His hands touched her neck gently and trailed downwards, roughly cupping her chest and he straddled her small body.

"Wait, no!" She tried to get away, but was too unstable to do so. "NO!" She moved underneath him in protest.

"Your resistance only makes it better. You said yes!" He started to kiss her breasts and moved his hand down to her skirt.

Kagome gulped and whimpered a small 'no' before vomiting on the man.

"UGH!" He recoiled from her body and wiped away at the vomit on his body. She took this moment to run out of the room, falling into his door a few times before finally opening it. She stumbled down the hallway and pulled herself into the elevator, trying to click the lobby floor, but her haziness caused her to hit other floors before finally hitting the right one.

The man had decided not to follow her because she had already made a scene. This worked out for Kagome, but she fell in the elevator and cried softly. The elevator stopped at all of the floors she had picked, and when it reached the lobby, she never got up. Her body shivered and her arms and back became covered in blotchy white goose bumps.

"InuYasha", she whispered, covering her arms around her chest and putting her head between her legs. She fell forward as the elevator yanked downwards and pressed her cheek against the cold floor. The doors opened slowly, but Kagome ignored them.

"I thought so. Who knew my brother would marry such a useless girl." The man who spoke grabbed Kagome and lifted her up, throwing his jacket over her torso. "I will take you home."

He walked out of the elevator, ignoring the stares that people gave him as he carried the weeping girl out of the apartment complex.

She hiccupped and closed her eyes. They were worn out from all of her crying.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

He nudged her awake when he reached her home. She groggily looked up at him. "Hn?"

"I obviously do not have access to your home. If you wish to sleep inside, you should probably open the door." He let her down and stepped aside as she pulled out a key to unlock the door.

"Thank you…" She looked at him, her cheeks stained with tears. "I'm glad your ghost is protecting me, InuYasha." She leaned towards him and kissed his lips softly. Sesshoumaru watched her quietly. He had no reaction, understanding that the kiss was a drunk one, and she was mistaking him for his brother. She turned from him and walked inside. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "InuYasha…" She crumbled, and fell to the floor. Tears fell from her eyes one after the other. Sesshoumaru kneeled beside her and lifted her by the arms. He moved her to the living room and put her down on the couch.

"I will get you some water and some pills. You need to sleep." He went into her kitchen and looked through the cabinets until he found glasses. He filled a glass with water and then searched for painkillers. He opened a drawer and stared at the picture that met him. There were water stains on it, but he could tell. The picture was of him. It looked exactly like InuYasha, but the picture was of Sesshoumaru a few years prior to InuYasha's death. Sesshoumaru was slightly shocked to see it, due to their strained relationship in the last year. His brother used to look up to him, but then he got mad at Sesshoumaru when he decided not to join the army. This picture was one that he used to always have with him. He used to joke about how he was going to look just like the guy in the picture when he got older.

Sesshoumaru set it on the counter and reached for a bottle of Tylenol. He grabbed the glass of water and walked back out to Kagome. He opened the bottle and handed her two pills. "Can you do this on your own?" he questioned.

"Yes, I think so." She put one pill in her mouth and swallowed, repeating the process for the second one. "Thank you, InuYasha."

Sesshoumaru decided not to correct her, seeing as it would just be a waste in her current state.

"I am going to leave now. Is that alright with you?"

"Just make sure you come back home." She closed her eyes and curled into the couch, smiling lightly. "Like you always do", she yawned.

He stood up and walked out the door, locking it and closing it behind him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kagome opened her eyes slowly, gasping at the pang she felt in her head.

"Oh my gosh…" She put her fingers to her forehead and massaged her skin. "I have a hang over…" She looked around her and noticed the grey walls and her stylish, black furniture. "And I slept on the couch?" She tried to sit up, but fell back down when her head protested. "At least I'm inside…" She looked at the water and pills sitting on her table. "But I don't know how I got here." She forced herself to get up, even though it was extremely painful. She made her way to her kitchen and looked down at the photo that had been placed there.

She caressed her loves face and smiled softly. "You were watching over me, huh. That's how I got home. I'm sorry if I did something bad last night." She carefully placed the picture into the drawer she had designated for it and went to her room. She let her body fall to her bed and she curled into a ball. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to go on.

_Knock knock_

Kagome groaned and pushed herself off the bed, dragging her feet to the front door. She opened it and blinked. The man in front of her had short black hair and golden eyes. It was InuYasha's father, of that she was certain. She knew her in laws, but not very well. She had only met them a total of four times.

"Yes sir?"

"Correction. Yes _dad._ Sesshoumaru called me and told me that I should be the one to check up on you instead of him today. He told me that he thinks he reminds you too much of InuYasha…" His eyes were solemn as he spoke the name. "Sesshoumaru found you yesterday at an apartment and brought you home."

Kagome's eyes widened as she remembered being in the elevator naked, crying. Her cheeks warmed with embarrassment and sadness. She had almost betrayed InuYasha by being with another man, even if it was against her will.

"I'm sorry…"

"No, dear. No need. He seems rather concerned about you. It's not normal for him." He gave a small chuckle.

"Please, come in." He shook his head at her offer.

"I just wanted to make sure you were still breathing. He made it sound like you had gone and gotten yourself in a fist fight or something. You look fine to me. But I'll give you some advice." He leaned in and whispered into Kagome's ear. "Even though it clouds all the sad things you think you're going through, the bottle is, in the end, just as cold as reality, if not colder." He pulled away and smiled. "I think I'll send Sesshoumaru back sometime, if you don't mind."

Kagome stared at him and then shook her head. "It actually doesn't bother me."

He smiled at her and then stepped away. "Well, he doesn't really have a choice. You're wearing his jacket. And uh... Not much else."

Kagome blushed and looked down, noticing that she did not have her shirt on underneath his jacket. She quickly closed it as much as she could, embarassed that she had just flashed InuYasha's dad. "Ah..."

He laughed at her and shrugged it off. "Stuff happens." He smiled at her knowingly and waved. "Goodbye then."

She smiled lightly and waved him off. When he had disappeared, she turned and shut the door. She could remember everything from the night before. She fell to the ground and screamed as loud as she could, only stopping when she remembered the kiss she gave her guardian angel, InuYasha.

A smile graced her lips before she fainted.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sesshoumaru knocked once. He had made a deal with himself to only knock one time. If he got no response, he would leave. He waited for five minutes. When Kagome failed to answer the door, he found himself trying to open it anyway. When the knob turned, he felt his heart jump once. He pushed the door open only for it to be stopped by a body. He slid through the crack and knelt beside Kagome. She was just asleep.

He closed the door and locked it. He then lifted her and carried her to her couch. He felt her wiggle in his arms, and when she was put down, her eyes fluttered open.

"InuYasha…" She rubbed her eyes and then frowned. "Oh. It's you."

He blinked and nodded. "Thanks for your enthusiasm."

She grimaced at his words. "I didn't mean it like that…"

"No, I understand." He looked around the room silently.

"Why are you here?" She looked up at him.

He looked back at her and looked into her eyes for a moment before speaking. "I was making sure you were okay. Apparently drinking is how you deal with your problems, and after last night, I was just protecting what my brother would have wanted me to protect. I also wanted my jacket back."

Kagome blushed and wrapped it around her for the second time that day, and ignored his last statement, deciding to feed her curiousity.

"He never mentioned you much, you know. Why is that?" She moved over and patted the spot beside her. Sesshoumaru reluctantly sat down.

"When you got married to him, we had already been feuding."

Sesshoumaru stopped and looked around the room again. Kagome waited for more, but noticed that nothing else was being said.

"Uh, is that all?"

He looked at her. "What else is there to tell?"

"Don't you regret anything? And why were you feuding?"

"… We were feuding because he wanted me to go to boot camp with him. I decided not to because I wanted to do something else with my life. He got mad at me and decided not to talk to me. I regret not trying to reconcile. But there is nothing I can do about that now."

Kagome got up and walked into the kitchen, bringing back the picture she kept in her drawer.

"This is my favorite picture of him. I always thought he looked best in this picture, because he knew what he wanted. He's confident in this picture. That's how he looked when he went off to war. And I'd imagine that's what he looked like when he took his dying breath." She breathed in. "I think he's watching over me through this picture. I can communicate with him through this." Kagome smiled and kissed the picture. "I've seen this face since he died. I know he's still here."

Sesshoumaru looked at the picture of himself, deciding not to tell her it was actually him. He looked up to the ceiling and realized that InuYasha had not simply left Kagome behind. He had given her to the one who needed her most. InuYasha was trying to reconcile with him. He wanted Sesshoumaru to take care of his most prized possession.

"He is." Sesshoumaru leaned into the couch. "The man in that picture will take care of you. He cares about you."

"He loves me", she whispered.

Sesshoumaru scanned her face. "Yeah. He does."


End file.
